Watership Down 2018... It's not a perfect adaptation, but it's pretty good.. · 10:19pm Dec 26th, 2018
So while I was recovering from Christmas dinner, I was watching Netflix's new Watership Down, a mini-series based on the 1972 book by Richard Adams. The book follows a small group of rabbits that leave their warren to start a new hive. They are led by Hazel, who is advised by his ... prophetic-vision-having brother Fiver, and is assisted by the highly capable fighter Bigway (Thlayli).
I'm posting this review because well, people seemed to dislike this show purely based on it's animation, but I don't think the animation was bad... so much as the style had issues. Basically, they went for CGI. Was it bad CGI? Ehhhh ...
I think the problem with the animation was that it lacked the complicated lighting and shadow we are used to for Pixar films. They chose the lighting well enough to convey the tone, but without the dynamic following shadows and lighting... it made the rabbits look wooden. It didn't help that I think the animators could have allowed the rabbits facial expressions to emote more, but I think they might have been relying on the voice cast for that.
Aside from that though, the actual rabbit movements, and camera angles, were done very well, and did enough to communicate the story. One thing I did really quite like about the series's animation was it's set design and for when it was showing moving-camera shots. Chase scenes were freaking amazing to see and really god the blood pumping. Efrafra (for you book fans) in particular was also fantastically rendered. I did find issues though in differentiating the rabbits, particular those scenes shot in the dark, but otherwise I though the animation had a lot of strong points, once I got used to it.
TL;DR, the animation is okay, even standout at times, but you need to get used to the style. The cinematography is very good and while they panned out some of the shots featuring the more brutal violence, the dark tone of the atmosphere conveyed a good deal of dread.
The story itself though, ... well for none-book readers this is a perfectly good story. My issue is that as someone who has read the book and watched the terribly inaccurate TV series (1999), I kinda had to wince at certain decisions.
The story of the mini-series generally follows the book closely, except... regarding several events that... reflect oddly on the characters. Without spoiling, they made changes to several characters' relationships, and insert several events that are different from the book. As for why they made these changes? I'm really not sure, which does reduce my enjoyment of the series. So much I would say they were unnecessary changes, especially when I compared to the TV series.
I mean book fans can say what they would like about the 1999 TV series, but it was doing it's own thing, and it stuck with the changes it made and it carried it forward. Basically, they changed stuff in the 1999 TV series that was arguably minor, in that the actual "nature" of the characters I think stayed fairly true. However, the 2018 Mini-series might have taken it a bit too far with it's changes, some of which seemed unnecessary given they didn't go anywhere and which did reduce my enjoyment of the series. I still liked it, but I didn't like most of those changes.
But if I did have to say one thing the mini-series did that was amazing was it's voice cast. They got all stars for this. James McAvoy from Atonement and X-Men: First Class as Hazel, John Boyega of Star Wars for Bigwig. Hell even the actors they got to voice the supporting roles are highly capable and have a lonnnng filmography. This means the series has a highly emotive voice-cast and hell if I didn't bother watching it and just listened to it, I'd still be entertained. John Boyega as Bigwig was a treat, as was James McAvoy for Hazel, but I should also shoutout Clover's actress Gemma Arterton.
So basically, watch it, it's pretty good.
I'll stick with the original animated version then
I haven’t seen it, but I didn’t like the book when I was young so I doubt I would like it now. But any watership down fans enjoy.
It has its moments, good and bad, but on the whole, I liked it. I do think some of the terms used would be lost on anyone who didn’t read the book, though.